Camp Half-blood
by mokatskuneblood
Summary: My name's Alice and a boy with the name Nico di Angelo took me to Camp Half-blood, where I now live. My life begins anew in this place, where I find out who my mother is, where I came from, and.. my siblings?
1. Chapter 1 - New Life

I was walking down the street one day, and I thought I saw a shadow darker than the rest of them. I looked around to make sure I wasn't crazy, and the shadow moved, as a person stepped out of it. He looked directly at me, and said, "Come with me" holding out his pale hand.  
I hesitated, but took his hand, and he pulled me into the shadows. I shivered, looking around in amazement; we were in Camp Half-blood. I gasped as I saw centaurs, campers, a dragon, metal bulls, and Pegasi.  
"Chiron sent for you. This is your home now." He looked at me, and sort of smiled. I looked back at him amazed, still in awe from the trip. So.. I'll live here.. I think silently, watching a Pegasus fly overhead.  
"This..."  
"Is an amazing place, I know. Come on, I'll show you around" He walks forward, and I run to catch up.  
"Hey, I think I know you!" I say to him, trying to keep up.  
"I think everyone says that." He says, grinning.  
I smile, "You're Nico di Angelo, aren't you?"  
He nods, "You're smart. Child of Athena maybe?"  
I shrug, looking around, "I don't know my mother.."  
"We'll find her...?" He looks at me in question.  
"Alice. Alice Glade." I say hesitantly.  
He smiles, "I like that name", he walks towards the, what I thought looked like a pavilion. I smiled, looked around, and sighed.  
I was going to like it here.


	2. Chapter 2 - Disaster on day 1

Nico showed me around the dining pavilion, all of the new and old cabins, the Big House, the forest, and the arena. I even met a few other campers;

a girl named Mallory from the Hermes cabin (11), Thalia from the Zeus cabin (1), Percy from the Poseidon cabin (3), and Piper from the Aphrodite cabin (11). We talked to some of the nymphs, and centaurs, learning a bit of what I didn't know of them. Nico looked happier, showing me around camp, as if her were hiding something. I shrugged it off, and smiled, looking around in wonder. This place was amazing.

There was an omega-like (Ω) ring of cabins, starting with Zeus, ending with Hecate, the newest cabin. The dining pavilion was huge, able to fit at least two-thousand campers. There was trees that surrounded the whole camp for miles, but they were filled with monsters. A river cut through the side of camp closest to the ocean. The arena was huge, too, it managed to fit behind all the cabins and the pavilion.

We ended the tour by the Hermes cabin, mainly because it was near the middle of them. I looked at the designs of all of the cabins, wondering where I fit into. I wasn't very stylish, so Aphrodite was out. I couldn't even build a birdhouse, so not Hephaestus. I wasn't one to fly, so Zeus was out as well. I couldn't heal anything, not Apollo. But.. I do love to read, but that could mean anything.. Or could it?

Dinner time was horrible. So, I was getting my food like everyone else, and Nico, of course wasn't there because I'm pretty sure that kid eats **nothing**. Anyway, I was sitting down at a table, because, like a newbie, I didn't know that there was set tables for all of the cabins. Now you can stop wondering why there's like 50 tables in there.

The first thing I noticed, was everyone staring at me, and I looked up, to see a new camper, I think his name was Alex. He looked like he was from the Ares cabin. That wasn't good news. I seemed to be sitting at their table. The second thing I noticed was a slight glare from all of them when I looked up.

"C-can I help you?" I stutter stupidly.

"Yes, you can move" Alex says rudely, glaring in my direction.

"She doesn't have to do what you say", says a familiar voice behind me, we turn around and spot Mallory. I smile kindly at her, thanking her, she smiles back, nodding. Mallory walks up to Alex.

"Who do you think you're talking to, Hermes child?" Alex sneers.

Mallory pushes Alex's tray into his face, causing spaghetti and bread to smear all over his face. Alex screams in rage, about to hit her, a hand grabs his and twists it backwards. I look over, and it's Nico. I smile in amazement. _What would I do without them?_

"You better leave, before things get dark" Nico snaps at Alex, glaring. Alex turns and leaves, complaining in rage to the other three behind him.

"Thank-" I start.

"No need. In Camp Half-blood, we're all family. Family sticks together." Nico smiles kindly as he sits next to me, Mallory on my other side.

 _That was the moment I knew I had friends. Even better; I had family._


	3. Chapter 3 - Learning

I woke the next morning without a single nightmare, of which Piper warned me a few hours before curfew, that pretty much all of the demigods have nightmares that, say, predict the future. Nico had told me, "You dream it, it happens". Which I figured wasn't like meeting a celebrity, more like dying or something, which I hope didn't happen to me…

Anyway, I woke up, got dressed, and left the 'unclaimed' cabin; which consisted of two small, empty bunk-beds, and a dresser with bright orange t-shirts, and jeans, both of which seemed to be my exact size.

I went to breakfast, sitting again, with Mallory and Nico, along with Piper. I sat between Nico and Mallory, Piper across from me. We sat in silence for awhile. I saw Nico give me a second glance, and I hid a smile by biting into my apple.

"Is is usually this quiet around here?" I ask, looking around at the, maybe, twelve people sitting around.

"Not usually… " Nico replied, "there's usually more arguments and flying food… "

Piper laughed, "Maybe Mallory scared them off."

We all laugh, even Nico. Mallory punched Piper's arm softly, "Not cool!"

We all stop laughing suddenly, as a loud explosion echos from the forest.

"What the..?" I stand up quickly, as everyone else looks at each other in confusion. Nico disappears, and I look around, "Woah.."

Mallory grabs her sword, Piper her blade, and they run towards the forest. I quickly follow, tripping over my own feet as I run through the trees. I hear shouting, a scream, then another explosion, which was close enough to shake the ground where I was, making me fall over.

I get back up and dust myself off, right before I hear a distinct, heartbreaking shout, "Leo!"

I didn't know who this Leo was, all I knew was, something happened, and it wasn't good. I sprinted through the trees, around campers just in time to see what happened; it appeared that something had exploded, as there was bronze parts everywhere. They were stuck in the trees, stuck in the ground, and whatever exploded seemed to not exist anymore.

"Oh gods, no… " I drop to my knees, as I see what the screaming was about; a kind of scrawny boy, about my age, with grease-stained clothing, and curly brown hair was lying on the ground in someone's arms.  
The girl who held him looked very thin and pale, with golden eyes, and dark, hair that was braided to the side. She wore a pure-white, now bloodstained Greek toga. She was sobbing, and holding the boy's head in her lap, brushing his hair with her fingers.

The boy, Leo, I saw had been impaled through the stomach with a triangle-shaped piece of whatever exploded, about the size of a shield. Nico looked at me sadly, standing nearby. I looked at him in question, then realized; Nico could see spirits, he was the child of Hades, after all.

I looked back at the boy, Leo. He reached up with a blood-covered hand and cupped her cheek as he said, "I will see you again, I promise.. Take care of Festus.." His hand tapped, apparently in morse code, "I love you" on her cheek, right before his hand dropped. I saw Nico shake his head, looking down. He actually looked mad, too mad to be sad. I blinked a few times, he had disappeared.

A few hours later I was lying on my bed thinking about what happened, what I saw. I sit up, when I hear a knock on my door, I get up and open it, it's Mallory.

"You know, then?" I ask, seeing her sad face. She nods and hugs me.

"H-he was one of my closest friends!" She started to sob. All I could do was hug her, and pat her back, telling her that is was okay. Once she finally calmed down, we were sitting on my bed against the wall.

I looked at her, "Do you know what's up with Nico? I mean, I know he's the son of Hades, but.."

She sniffed and looked at the ground, "I don't know him that well, but I do know that he can sense when someone dies.. It must be miserable for him, though. Knowing who they were, when they died, _feeling_ that they died, no less.." She trailed off, looking very sorrow.

I nod slowly, "They were good friends, huh?" I ask.

Mallory nods, "Not as close as him and Will, but yea.."

I sigh, standing up, "I'm going to go look for him."

Mallory looks at me like I caught a disease, "Do you even know where he is?" She asks me.

I start gathering things in a bag, which didn't take long, because I don't have anything with me. I throw the bag over my shoulder, facing her, "No, but I know who to ask." I head for the cabin door, as she steps in front of me.

"This, is crazy, Alice, you don't even know where he went. He could be anywhere, i could be dangerous!"  
"Mall, calm down, I'll be fine. I know self defense."

She looks at me amazed, "Alice, you can't judo-flip a bronze bull!"

I roll my eyes, leaving the cabin, headed for cabin 3.


	4. Chapter 4 - Mission

I left my cabin without another glance behind me to Mallory, who gave me a slight glare as I shoved past her. I looked around for Cabin 3, spotted it, then headed in it's direction.  
I happened to see Percy, a Poseidon child, along the way. He waved at me, with a slight smile, _Still upset about that Leo kid. I suppose_ , I thought. He walked by me without a word, a dark aura seemed to be following everyone who walked by.  
I approached Cabin 3, and peered inside the window. The glass was cold to the touch, despite the hot summer air. I shivered, standing next to the door of the cabin. I knocked on the door, and the door swung open. All I could say was that it was cold and dark, I couldn't see anything.  
I jumped back when someone walked out from the darkness; a girl with long brown, curly hair, dark skin, and bright golden eyes. I remembered meeting her briefly the first day I was here; Hazel Levesque, Nico's sister. She had quite a back story. I looked at her and kindly smiled, or, I tried, if I remember right, her past was entwined with Leo's past self, Sammy Valdez. Their story was a sad one.  
So Sammy and Hazel were pretty much past lovers, though her mother wouldn't let her speak to him. Hazel's mother wasn't very nice to her. Hades, Hazel's father, granted her mother a wish to have all the riches in the ground, only to give the power to Hazel, who was inside her mother at the time of the curse.  
Hazel, now when she gets really upset or stressed, summons small to large stones of gold, silver, and sometimes platinum in the dirt. Stones of which, whomever touched or picked up, gave bad fortunes and sometimes death.  
I looked up at Hazel, teary-eyed, and sunken-faced. I hadn't known they were so close, Leo's death hit Hazel harder than everyone else. She didn't seem to notice all of the gold and silver stones the size of horses, appearing through the dirt around the cabin.  
""Oh, hello Alice.." Hazel says weakly, "What's up?"  
I sigh and stand up straight, "Nico disappeared, and I'm trying to find him", I say proudly.  
She looks at me slightly fazed, "First of all, what do you need him for? Second, when he shadow-travels, he goes anywhere. He could be in Asia for all we know. He either goes to Italy, his home, or the Underworld, his calm place." Hazel looks over my head, at the ground. I nod slowly, "I need to talk to him, and I didn't know he could travel that far.. I barely knew he could do that at all," I sigh.

"Well, you do now," Hazel sighs, wiping her eyes, "if you want to go looking for him, try the forest first, he likes to go there and think. But usually at night, so wait awhile, if you will." She yawns and closes the door. I sigh. _So now what?_ I look around the camp.  
I sighed and headed for the trees, determined to wait for him. I sit next to a tree, set my stuff down, and wait, falling asleep.

~*~  
I get woken up hours, or what I know of hours passed, later by someone standing over me. I look up, only to meet his dark eyes. He was slightly smiling, I look around for a second, taking in all of the darkness. I never was friends with the dark. I looked up at Nico again, and smiled, but blushed, _what was he even doing here? How'd he find me?_  
"Hazel said you needed me?" He says questioningly.  
I nod, "I need to talk to you."  
He raises an eyebrow, "About..?"  
I'm hesitant this time, "Two things; that Leo kid, and where you disappeared to."  
He just looks at me, then looks away, "I guess I should answer your questions considering you're new here."  
Nico sighs and sits next to me, I look away from him, at the moon shining over us.  
"So, Leo Valdez. He was quite a character;" it seemed to hurt Nico, as well, to use his name in past tense, "Leo was good at making people laugh, and he was always smiling. I wasn't there, but I asked one of the Hephaestus kids what happened. Leo seemed to be working on fixing a bronze bull, when the damn thing blew up. So as we all know, Leo's immune to fire, considering he can produce it, and since he's immune, the fire didn't hurt him; the flying metal did.." Nico sighed and looked at the ground, "He was close to all of us, even those who don't smile, those who don't laugh, those of us who don't have many friends.."  
He trailed off, and I knew he was talking about himself. I sighed. and looked at him, hoping he didn't notice.  
He noticed, considering he was looking right at me. I quickly look down, as he looks at the moon.  
"So… " I stop, unable to think straight. Did I honestly like this guy?  
"I… " Nico starts., "I disappeared to meet his spirit in the underworld… "  
Okay, honestly, that would sound like a lie to anyone else, but I knew half of what he meant. I nod, telling him to go on.  
"There's two places a soul can go after death; Elysium, or the Fields of Punishment.. Elysium is reserved for the mortals related to the gods, or those chosen to go by the gods. Elysium is really the happiest place in the underworld. For the souls anyway. Leo went to Elysium, I requested it. The Fields of Punishment are really in the name; the bad souls, like killers and things, go to the Fields of Punishment to be tortured for eternity."  
Nico may have said that last part a little too happily.. I sigh and nod, "So the Underworld's pretty big, obviously.." I look at the moon. it was a bright silvery glow over us, showing just enough through the trees, to shine directly down on both Nico and I.  
I look over at Nico, he was looking at the tree in front of us about six feet. I just look at him; his olive-pale skin, his dark hair that just covered the tips of his ears, his sunken, undead looking face, and his dark clothing. His sword was strapped behind him, his jacket next to him, his long legs out in front of him. I quickly look away when his head turns, looking at me, probably wondering why I was looking at him.  
I decided to look at him anyway, and I meet his eyes.  
"Why are you looking at me like that?" He asks quietly.  
"L-like what?" I ask slowly.  
He shows a hint of a smile.  
I quickly look away, _What am I thinking, I just met this guy!_  
He smiles at me.  
I sigh, _Oh come on, that smile.. Do it Alice!_ "Well.. I think your smile is nice. You should do it more often.." I quickly look away. _Ugh, really? The best you can do, "I like your smile?" How about, 'I think you're cute and I want to date you.'? Huh, Alice?_ I shake my head, shutting my brain up.  
I hear him chuckle, and he sighs, "Thank you.. I usually don't because It's unnatural for me. I'm always so alone, and I've only smiled for a few people in my life… " He looks down sadly.  
I hesitate, then I put my hand over his, "I grew up alone, raised myself, really…"  
I see him slightly blush at my touch, then he nods, "Me too… My mother died when I was seven, then my sister, and my father doesn't really care about me, really.."  
I look at the moon, "I wish I knew my mother.."  
I sigh and look at Nico, he's looking up at the moon too.  
 _I think I like him… But, does he like me?_  
I look down at our hands.

I didn't realize I fell asleep until I woke up with my head resting on Nico's shoulder, he seemed to be asleep, as well. I didn't think he slept, or ate for that matter. Although, I guess children of Hades have some weird powers. I look at his death-like face, his pale skin reflecting the morning light. I look down at our hands, his fingers entwined with mine. I blush, but don't pull my hand back, since he's asleep.  
I smiled, thinking, while looking at the sleeping Nico. _Okay, I admit it, I like him._ I sigh and close my eyes.  
I jump as an arrow shoots over my head, sticking in the tree above me. Nico suddenly wakes up, standing and drawing his sword, looking around. I look around as well, seeing nothing. But I do hear something that sounds like wings, then a neigh; _A horse? No, a Pegasus!_ I look above me just in time to see a Pegasus fly overhead and land in front of us. The horse is all black, with a 'star' in the middle of its forehead. It whinnies and stomps, snorting at Nico and backing away a few steps.  
"Woah Blackjack, calm down, buddy, it's just Nico." Percy says, as he hops off of the Pegasus, apparently waiting for a reply, "No, buddy, you can't kick him.," Percy rolls his eyes, turning towards us.  
"Hey Percy," Nico says, putting his sword away hesitantly, glaring at the Pegasus. It whinnies in reply and stomps again.  
"Hey Nico- Blackjack, you be nice!" Percy sighs, "Or no sugar cubes!" The horse immediately shuts up, twitching it's wings and folding them to its sides.  
I wave slightly, eyeing the horse, "Hey… "  
"Oh hey Alice, sorry about the arrow, we were playing Capture the Flag, but then Alex decided to cheat… " Percy says as he kicks the dirt.  
I nod, "It's okay, it just startled us is all."  
Nico nods, leaning against the tree and crossing his arms, "What are you doing here, Percy?"  
Percy fixes his bangs, "Just warning you two."  
I look at Nico, then Percy, confused, "About what?"  
Nico shrugs, "What is it Percy?"  
Percy looks between us, nervously, "Well, You two are going on a quest."  
I almost fell over, but I hide it, leaning against the tree, "What? I just got here!"  
Nico sighs, "Hopefully it's not a bad one this time."  
Percy sighs and nods, "Hopefully"  
 _'_ _This time'? What does that mean? Why me_?


	5. Chapter 5 - Travel and the light

"Mission?" I look at percy, stunned, "where?"

Percy looks at me, "The Labyrinth."

If I weren't leaning on the tree, I'd have fallen over, "THE WHAT?"

Nico almost faints, "Again? I can't keep going down there, It will kill me eventually!"

Percy shrugs, "It's what Chiron told me." Blackjack stomps behind him, and Percy hops over his back, "We'd better go… things to do." Percy and Blackjack disappear over the trees in a 'Whoosh' of wings.

I look up at the sky where Blackjack just was, then at Nico, "Labyrinth?" I ask, astonished.

Nico sighs, looking away, "The Labyrinth is a device created by Daedalus, a Greek artist. He built it for King Minos, supposedly to hold the Minotaur, until it was killed by Theseus. Now, the Labyrinth is able to move anywhere at any given time, under us, in front of us, above us. It can create tunnels on it's own, and there's no telling where they will appear. That's what happened with me and the others when we went to battle Gaea. I was trapped in a separate tunnel, and I was taken underground farther, supposedly in Tartarus. Though I didn't know since i was passed out due to oxygen loss." Nico stopped, a look of remembrance on his face, this wasn't a good memory for him.

"Oh.. " Was all I could think of to say, since I've never experienced it before. Let alone heard of it.

Nico sighs and nods, "But it's okay, I mean… It's not all that bad of a place".

I sigh, that was a total lie. I could tell by his expression that it was a horrible place. I sigh and lean against the tree, looking at the clouds, listening to the faint echoes of battle.

I feel Nico's eyes on me and I turn my head, looking at him, his dark eyes looking directly at me, "Get packed," he says as he disappears into the shadows. I look around, shaking my head, _Why did I like this kid?_

Later that night I'm asleep, when someone shakes me awake, "Alice. Alice wake up already."

I open my eyes, looking up at the stranger, it's Nico. _I could get used to him waking me._ I shake my head, sitting up and yawning.

"Are we going soon?" I ask sleepily.

Nico nods, handing me my bag, "Now, yes."

I take the bag, standing up and stretching, I was apparently already dressed. _I must have passed out._ "Okay, let's go wherever we're going."

Nico just looks at me, "We're going to the Labyrinth. Don't you remember yesterday at all?"

I rub my eyes, yawning again, "Gods, I don't even know when I fell asleep!"

Nico just sighs and shakes his head, "Oh well, let's go." He leaves the cabin, and I follow, my bag over my shoulder.

We walk past all of the cabins, and out towards the river. I was wondering why we were going to the river when I saw a flash of light ahead of us. I speed up a little bit, walking alongside Nico, but looking the other way, since I notice that his face is beautifully pale in the moonlight.

I look ahead of us at the dim light in a darker spot by a tree. _The tunnel, I presume._

When we walked up to the entrance, I expected some pile of bones or maybe a pyre over the top, but all it was was a bunch of bricks over a very dark tunnel.

 _This is it_ , I thought, _the Labyrinth._

I glance at Nico, and he looks at me. He nods and we make our way into the tunnel.

The first thing I can say, is that it's really dark. The second, was the chilling, airless feeling. I hated it.

I put my arms around myself and walked on, hoping for a light to turn on soon. Turns out, there's no lights in the Labyrinth. But, if you're lucky, you'd have brought a flashlight. Oh but of course we didn't. So I walked next to Nico- no, _attached_ to Nico, since there was pretty much no room in over half of the tunnels, we were practically tripping over each other. Though, I was behind him, since I had no idea where we were going.

I decided to try and break the silence as I look, or try to look around, at the walls, "Were you told what we're specifically doing down here?" I ask, looking in his general direction. He didn't answer for such a time, I almost panicked, thinking he disappeared, until;

"Yea, apparently a camper got trapped down here while headed for their cabin. Thankfully, we know where they are," he replies, appearing to be looking at the walls suspiciously.

I look over at him, "You're worried-"

"-about us, yes. I've been down here before, like I said. And it wasn't a good experience." He trailed off.

I sigh, looking down, wondering where were headed to. I gasp as I fall through the floor, hearing a loud crash, and a grunt next to me in the darkness. _Sounds like Nico fell too, hope he's okay._ I lay there for a second, trying to breathe, I hear Nico try and stand.

"Are you hurt..?" I manage to gasp out. I hear a faint hiss, he gasped. _Pain_ , I guess, _he is hurt! Oh no.._ _What do I do?_

"F-fine.. I heal quickly.." He gasps out. _Okay, Mister di Angelo, you're hurt, and it's serious._

I feel his hand touch mine, but I know it's accidental. I slightly blush, then I see some sort of light in my vision.

"Nico, I see light!" I look around.

I feel Nico's eyes on me, "Alice, that's you."

I look at him confused, "Me? What do you mean?"

He lifts my hand in front of my face, it's glowing a faint yellow-gold. I gasp, "Woah."

"J-just look for a way out." Nico stutters.

I shake my head, though I think only I can see it, "No, we need to help you, now where are you hurt?" I manage to crawl over to him, looking at

him.

He sighs, "I don't need to be helped, I'm find on my own.." He gasps again as he sits up.

I sigh, too, "I'm going to help you whether you like it or not."

He finally moved his hand, a long bar running through one of his lungs. I gasp, but not enough to alarm him. I notice that he's bleeding a lot, and I put my hand on his side carefully, closing my eyes. For some reason, my hand started glowing, and before I knew it, he wasn't bleeding. The only issue; that bar.

I look at him, he looks at me, then my hands, then above my head. He gasps, his face lit up, I look up then in the reflection of his sword I see a harp above my head. I smile brightly, half from shock. _My dad's Apollo!_ I want to cheer and dance like a 5 year old, but then I remember Nico and the bar in his side. I look at him and sigh, carefully pulling the bar out. I look at his face, paler.

 _He needs others. Other help._ I shake my head and look around, half-panicked, "Okay, so we need.. Um, Ambrosia? Yea, I think that's right." _Gods, I'm a child of Apollo and I don't know what_ _Ambrosia_ _is? Seriously, Alice.._

I get my bag, and in the side is a bag of what I think is Ambrosia. I'm not quite sure, since it looks like cheesecake, but... Mallory shoved it in there last minute. Anyway, I grab the stuff and give one to Nico, his breath evening out. I sigh with relief and sit against the wall nearest him. I look at his face; he's asleep. I nod, closing my eyes and passing out from exhaustion.

When morning came, or, what I think was morning, since there wasn't any light down here, I was still groggy. Apparently healing takes the life out of people. I look at Nico, he's awake and looking around. I sigh and shake my head, _How will we ever get out of here?_


	6. Chapter 6 - Surviving

**Sorry it took so long... I had to move the chapter from my now-soaked notebook to my new journal. At least I got it done and saved, okay? Chapter 7 will be better. Or 8. I have ideas, okay? Shivers incoming.**

I looked over at Nico, appearing to still be paler than usual. Well, his pale. I was sure he was healing okay, since I healed him, mostly.

 _Oh gods, I healed him!_

I still couldn't believe it.

I sigh and close my eyes, though I don't think this tunnel could have gotten any darker. I lift my hand as it glows dimly, lighting up the room. I could feel my energy draining, but it was worth it. I looked around at the high walls, the giant hole in the ceiling, the rocks around us from when we fell, and the slow drip of water into the now-formed puddles on the ground about 3 feet from us.

There was no other sound other than Nico's shallow breathing. It was completely silent.

I blink, trying to see, but my vision fades to black, my hand drops, and I fall backwards.

My head barely misses a rock.

I open my eyes to Nico shaking me awake, "Alice! Alice get up!" Nico says hurriedly trying to get me to sit up.

I sit up amazed at the amount of strength he has after losing as much blood that he did.

"What is it? What's wrong? Are you hurt?" I look over him quickly.

"No, no, I'm fine. Look." He points to the wall directly in front of us.

I stand up and look around, the door seemed to appear out of nowhere in particular. I walk over to the doorway, Nico passes me and goes in first. I hear him gasp, since he can apparently see in the dark. _Lucky._

I peek into the room after him, but I can't see a thing. I sigh and follow behind him, reaching out until i touch his shirt, I grab it, not wanting to get separated. I hear an odd clicking noise, a scuffling, and feel something crawl across my leg. I want to scream, but I can't.

Nico moves to face me, making sure I'm okay, I nod. Some of the last things I remember was the floor breaking out from under us, Nico's arms around me, and a 'Whoosh' of air around us as we fall into some sort of sticky bed.

Nico never let go, I remember that for sure. I look above us, struggling to get free but only making it worse.

I see a pair of red eyes and I scream.


	7. Chapter 7 - Found

When my consciousness finally cleared, I could hardly breathe. I was upside down on my stomach. My mind was everywhere, along with the strands of glowing light healing every inch of my body automatically.

* * *

I must have been out for quite awhile, because when I woke up completely, I was in my cabin. I was dressed, and had my stuff next to me.

I sit up and look around, everything as it was before I left. Okay, with the exception of me and my bag. I get up and go outside, looking around to see nothing changed, except... **There were at least 6 cabins missing, and Hades was one of them!** I panic for a second, looking around quickly, only to see they weren't missing; my cabin had moved to the other side of the omega. I shrug and walk around the camp, looking for Percy, Mallory, Nico, anyone.

I couldn't find Percy, but I found Mallory.

"Mal! Hey Mal!" I run over to her and she smiles.

"Alice! You're okay!" She hugs me tightly and I nod, after I can breathe again.

"I just woke up.. How did we get back?" I look at her confused.

Mallory sighs, "We don't really know. There was this odd yellow glow all of a sudden, and you two were in the middle of the arena somehow. You both were pretty torn up and bloody, you weren't hurt, but Nico needed stitches on his head. He's in the infirmary right now; he's been out for days."

I just look at her stunned, then nod. _Could I have done that?_

"I'm going to go see Nico. I'll see you around, Mal!" I wave and walk to the infirmary.

I look around to find Nico lying in one of the beds, and as Mallory had said, was beaten up and bloody. It looked like he had stitches right above his left eyebrow, and that his side was healed perfectly. _I healed that!_ My heart skipped a half-beat when I saw how tired and lifeless his face was. I sit by him and watch him sleep, until he finally wakes up about half an hour later.

Nico blinks a few times and looks directly at me. I smile, hiding a blush. "Morning. Finally"

He yawns and waves with his hand, lightly touching his stitches.

"Feeling alright?" I ask, looking at his head.

He nods, standing up and yawning, stretching. I blush slightly, looking at him. I look away when he stops stretching, to look at me. I see him smile out of the corner of my eye, but he acts like nothing happened.

I get up as well, and go outside, only to have Nico follow suit.

I raise an eyebrow, looking at him through the corner of my eye and smile, stopping at the treeline. I turn around and look at him, crossing my arms and leaning on a tree.

He stops as well, about two feet from me.

I sigh and look up at the clouds, "I have to go back to school. It's my senior year anyway. I graduate in two weeks, I have to study for finals."

He nods and looks at me, "Eighteen, right?"

I just look at him, "Tomorrow. How'd you know?"

He just shrugs, "I guess it's because I subtracted it from the years until you die." He says bluntly, hint of a smile on his face.

I look at him, startled.

Nico laughs, "I'm kidding, jeez. Mallory told me."

I smile, "You laughed."

He sighs and blushes slightly, "I don't do it often.. I only do it when I'm comfortable with someone, which isn't every day.."

I look at him, "You're.. Comfortable with me?" _Oh gods I do like him!_

He smiles and nods, blushing completely, "I.. I am.. I like you."

That moment, I thought my heart would stop. I thought that love was something in fairy tales or something, I had always dreamed it. I didn't know what was happening until I had grabbed Nico's arm, turned around, and had him pinned against the tree.

 _I am touching Nico di Angelo!_ Gods, brain, stop that..

And then I did it, I just kissed him. I didn't know what I was doing, really. But then I noticed he didn't pull away, only to blush and accept, putting his arms around my comfortingly. I blush slightly and pull away after about a minute or two.

I look at his eyes, which isn't hard, since we're both really the same height. His eyes have this strange midnight shimmering glow, but with this background of pure darkness. He is still blushing slightly, but smiling.

I look at him, blushing as well, I step back, "S-so what does this make us?"

He looks down a second, then puts his hand in mine, "Depends"

I just smile kindly and squeeze his hand lightly. We walk back to my cabin, and he helps me pack for finals week.


End file.
